 Take two. Let's go. Welcome to Code Corner with Katie. Let's kick it. Let's see what's on thinking man's mind today. I see fire doors propped open all the time. Is this a big problem? Oh my goodness, you bet it is. That's a great question. Come on in and let's find out. Fire door assemblies play a vital role in the built environment. They range in protection ratings from 20 minutes up to three hours. The varying degrees of protection are based on where they're used in a building. Among other things, fire doors protect our means of egress while allowing building occupants to reach safety in the event of a fire or other similar emergency. We have learned throughout history that smoke is a leading cause of death in a fire. A fire door that is propped or blocked open is very dangerous in that it won't form a barrier to stop the spread of smoke or fire. This is a video of a 20 minute rated apartment door after a fire. You can see the hall is black and covered in soot. When the apartment doors open, it looks brand new and untouched by the fire and smoke. Thank goodness this door was closed and latched at the time of fire like it was supposed to be. I travel a lot for work and stay in a variety of hotels across the country. This happens to be a housekeeping laundry room and the doors propped open by a laundry cart, presumably by an employee. I registered a complaint at the front desk the last time I stayed here. My guest room was directly across from this door and it was right next to the stair. They said that they would take care of it, but their comment was there isn't anything of any real value in that room. I calmly explained that it's not the value of what's in the room. The room is full of flammable materials and the fire door that's being blocked open will not stop the spread of the thick black smoke if the contents in that room catch fire from electrical or other reasons. This video was filmed two months later, the door still being blocked open daily. This time I spoke with the manager of the hotel and I reiterated the importance of the door being closed and latched. I asked why would the housekeeping want to block that door open, especially after hours. They said it's probably because they have to use their key every time and this was faster and easier. I told the manager that she could buy a new lock with a different function that would be able to be left unlocked but at the same time the door could stay closed or there's legal ways to keep a fire door open with an electromechanical closer or a closing holder device that is tied to the fire alarm that can close and latch the door at the time of fire. Owners and building inhabitants just don't realize what they're doing when they block open or disable the latching on a fire door and it's our job to continue to educate the people that inhabit these buildings. For more information and continuing education opportunities, please visit Osa Abloy Academy by clicking in the link in the comments below. Please click like and subscribe to this channel. You can follow me on Twitter at our consultant and or connect with me on LinkedIn for updates. If you have a code question, feel free to email me at Catherine.Flower at OsaAbloy.com. Thanks for joining me in the Code Corner today. My name is Katie Flower and my goal is to help you achieve safe purity in the built environment.